AZED CROSSWORD 517

IMMORTELLE

1.  C. M. Edmunds: Blunt’s confession implicates right wing in chronic bloomer (rt el in I’m mole; ref. Anthony B.).

2.  B. Greer: Use me – I’ll last in bouquet more freshly (anag. & lit.).

3.  V. G. Henderson: The flowers at memorial could be a wreath of ——s (comp. anag. & lit.).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Me, rot? ME? I’ll explode that! (anag. & lit.).

W. (Bill) Anderson: I’m right in saying, in France she could be an Academician (I’m + r in mot + elle; ref. Les Immortels).

D. Ashcroft: French honesty, to make impression on English, has first to get vice halved (immor(ality) + tell E; honesty, garden flower).

A. G. Bogie: Term Mollie (wrongly) the unfading Bloom? (anag.; ref. Molly Bloom, ‘Ulysses’).

E. J. Burge: Heads of industry might say in old plant: ‘This plant will dry up resisting change’ (i m + tell in more²).

R. S. Caffyn: All up with me? Rot, I’m blooming well going on for ever (anag. (?)).

C. A. Clarke: Rile Meg (leading character) with motel getting destroyed – the blooming thing goes on for ever (anag. incl. M; ref. TV’s ‘Crossroads’).

Dr V. G. I. Deshmukh: An —— ob. Untrue, I’m eternal bloom! (comp. anag. & lit.).

N. C. Dexter: Round 2000 ere it’ll wither? (anag. incl. O MM, & lit.; O = round).

M. Earle: Enduring piece of poesy that’s about alley-bound floosie (mort in mell in i.e.; poesy = posy).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: To me, Miller’s spinning gets one out always (anag.; ref. Geoff M., England bowler).

R. S. Haddock: From mere to mill meandering – an eternal flower (anag.).

R. Jacks: What’s long, long time and more a-wilting (anag. incl. l l, & lit.).

F. P. N. Lake: ’51 Mel Tormé hit, – not ‘Mountain Greenery’, but a pretty persistent little strain (anag. incl. LI; ref. jazz singer).

C. J. Morse: I’m Helichrysum, cut to last, or suchlike (French) (I’m m or telle, & lit.).

S. J. O’Boyle: Flower that could inspire endless memory – till the end of time (anag. less y + e).

N. O’Neill: New style more ‘me’ – till blow dried, purportedly ‘au natural’! (anag.; blow = bloom).

R. J. Palmer: I’m set beside grass in stump – by flower arranger perhaps (I’m + tell in more²).

D. R. Robinson: As for this – an arrangement of memorial florets can be made from it (comp. anag. & lit.).

H. R. Sanders: ‘Everlasting’ Rome met its fall, vandalised, fast devastated, forgotten (anag. less anag. of fast).

T. A. Spencer: Brook-like flower bickering or source of energy mill met (anag. incl. e; ref. Tennyson’s Brook).

D. H. Tompsett: A cat’s ear for example – that is catching a lot in fight (mort² in mell in i.e.; c. e. = antennaria).

M. G. Wilson: Everlasting Rome; time’ll corrupt (anag.).

M. Woolf: Can you see me rot? Me? I’ll flourish (anag. & lit.).

HC

Dr J. K. Aronson, F. D. H. Atkinson, J. Campbell, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, A. J. Crow, T. Davies, Dr P. H. Emslie, Rev S. W. Floyd, F. D. Gardiner, D. A. Ginger, Ms J. Gore, J. Grainge, J. F. Grimshaw, T. Hallam, D. Hibbert, A. W. Hill, J. P. H. Hirst, C. L. Jones, R. E. Kimmons, M. D. Laws, K. H. Lewis, R. K. Lumsdon, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, Rev W. P. Manahan, D. F. Manley, S. M. Mansell, R. M. McIver, D. P. M. Michael, C. G. Millin, F. Moss, F. E. Newlove, F. R. Palmer, A. R. H. Pocock, D. Price Jones, Miss I. M. Raab, N. J. Reed, R. Samuelson, M. D. Sanderson, W. J. M. Scotland, D. P. Shenkin, Mrs E. J. Shields, D. M. Stanford, J. B. Sweeting, I. Torbe, Mrs J. Waldren, N. W. Ward, D. C. Williamson, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
451 entries, no noticeable mistakes. There were quite a number of puzzled queries about my clue to MOAB. I thought the biblical quotation on which it was based (‘Moab is my washpot’, from Psalm 60) was one of those that is familiar because of its striking metaphor – the sort of thing that caused titters in the classroom – but anyway no one got it wrong.
 
A fairly run-of-the-mill competition this month. Not a particularly easy word to be original with. Rather too many of you spoiled your chances by assuming that an immortelle was some sort of magical deathless plant. Everlasting flowers do in fact die like any other, they simply retain their colour and shape when dried and are thus a boon to the flower-arranger, wreath-maker etc. As far as I could determine as well, an imortelle isn’t any particular flower but is used as the name for any with these properties (there are quite a number, my wife tells me). Incidentally if any are puzzled by Mr Palmer’s ‘stump’ above, he justifies it by describing an arrangement of everlasting flowers and grasses embedded in a piece of wood he once received as a gift, the sort of thing I’ve certainly seen in florists’ shops.
 
Most overused ideas of the month: ‘or tell me I’m wrong’ attached to a simple definition, and the old pun on ‘flower = flow-er = river’. Some even used ‘Tennyson’s Brook’ or suchlike as the definition of IMMORTELLE, a quite unacceptable ‘clue to a clue’. Mr Edmunds’s clue stood out as a good example of cryptic wording – neat but not overwrought, fair but not too easy. I’d have liked a ‘maybe’ or the like after ‘confession’ for total satisfaction. I doubt whether Blunt would ever have actually so described himself (the term ‘mole’ having been coined I believe by Le Carré though such a phrase would doubtless appeal to Fleet Street headline writers with their fondness for monosyllables.
 
I’m regularly asked when such-and-such a favourite ‘special’ is coming up again. The next few specials in order of appearance (not necessarily competitions) will be ‘Right & Left’, ‘Eightsome Reels’, ‘Theme & Variations’ and ‘Playfair’.